The present invention relates to resilient supports for dampening vibration from being transmitted between a vibrating body and a structural member that supports the body; and more particularly to supports which attach an aircraft engine to a fuselage.
Aircraft engines can induce significant vibration into the airframe. If left unchecked, induced vibrations not only create objectionable noise within the aircraft cabin, but also may result in serious fatigue of the airframe.
As a consequence, the engine typically is attached to the airframe by a mount which includes some form of a vibration absorbing or dampening mechanism to reduce transmission of vibrations from the engine to the airframe. One configuration of such a mounting system is described in U.S. Pat. No. 2,705,118 and utilizes a pair of resilient mounts which feature an elastomeric material connecting a bracket on the engine with a member of the airframe. Each mount has a chamber formed between the elastomeric material and the airframe member that is filled with hydraulic fluid under pressure. The fluid filled chambers provide a system that is relatively stiff with respect to torsion that results from engine rotation, yet is soft with respect to translational movement of the engine. With this vibration/torsion dampening system, care must be taken in selecting the hydraulic fluid and the elastomeric material so the fluid does not cause deterioration of the elastomeric material. In addition, that stiffness of the torsion dampening is adversely affected by the resiliency of the elastomeric material which forms a wall of the fluid chambers.